#178 Introducing our new host – Ian Battersby

The ISO Show

After 5 years of hosting the ISO Show, Mel Blackmore will be taking a step back as she focuses on her sustainability related endeavors.

She’s passing the baton onto our new host – Ian Battersby. Ian is a Senior isologist at Blackmores, and while relatively new to the team, he has a wealth of Standard and ISO related knowledge to share with you all.

Today we Introduce Ian Battersby as the new host for the ISO Show and learn about his background in Standards and ISO.

You’ll learn

· Taking a step back

· Introduction to Steph Churchman

· Introduction to Ian Battersby

· What Standards has Ian worked with?

· What Sectors has Ian worked in?

Resources

· Isologyhub

In this episode, we talk about:

[00:30] Join the isologyhub – To get access to a suite of ISO related tools, training and templates. Simply head on over to isologyhub.com to either sign-up or book a demo.

[02:05] Episode summary: After 5 years of the ISO Show, Mel Blackmore is handing the hosting baton over to Ian Battersby

[02:25] Interim host – Ian will be the main host going forward, but there will be additions from Blackmores’ Communication Manager – Steph Churchman.

You may recognise her from recent episode such as:

· Top 10 Reasons to use ISO 42001 AI Management

· Top ISO Standard Trends in the Data Centre Industry

Steph will be sharing findings from our own research, standards updates and conducting interviews with our isologists.

[03:35] An Introduction to Ian Battersby – Ian has been working for Blackmores since August 2023. Although he is meant to be part-time, he’s had a very busy first few months here!

Ian began working in British Aerospace, specifically manufacturing, in 1984. He later decided to return to university to study electrical and electronic engineering, which was promptly dropped.

His return to BAE lasted a few years before he moved onto the civil service for the Department of Health, working with them to conduct safety investigations and helped to create a broader risk profile.

When he moved to work with the NHS, firstly, with the litigation authority setting up governance and risk standards and then as a risk manager.

Surprisingly, after moving up a few levels, he decided to move onto run a restaurant! A Curry House to be specific, but after a year of rather stressful work that ended up costing a lot more than expected, he returned to work within the construction industry which is where he became more involved with ISO Standards.

From there he went onto work in manufacturing of high pressure pumps for a while before moving onto an organisation who rant he estate for the Department of Work and Pensions.

In the end, Ian left them due to being unable to live the life he wanted to live.

[05:15] What Standards has Ian worked with? – He started with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 (now ISO 45001).

[06:00] Digital Nomad – Ian currently splits his time between Leeds in the UK and Malaga in Spain.

Having a lot of experience working remotely in previous industries, this leap didn’t impede on his work in any way.

[07:15] What other Standards has Ian worked with? – He has assisted with ISO 44001 (Collaborative Business Management), but admittedly it was not his favorite ISO Standard to work with. It’s one of the rare instances in ISO where the Standard doesn’t quite align with others.

[08:00] What Sectors has Ian worked in – Ian’s extensive work history has afforded him the opportunity to work in a number of sectors, including:

· Construction and Fit out

· Manufacturing

· Estate Management

· Private enterprise

· Healthcare / NHS

· Facilities

With this list growing at a rapid pace since his introduction at Blackmores!

[09:45] What’s a big challenge that Ian’s had to overcome in the past? – In terms of ISO, it has to be Leadership. Ian’s found that to always be an issue within businesses attempting to implement ISO Standards.

A good looking Management System will only go so far without leadership commitment.

While working in facilitating Standards for an organisation, you won’t be implementing the whole system yourself. It’s more a case of delivering through others, the organisation controls and delivers their own processes and improvements, and so it’s imperative that Leadership are also embedding and encouraging these actions.

Ian will be going more in-depth on this topic in a future episode.

If you’d like to book a demo for the isologyhub, simply contact us and we’d be happy to give you a tour.

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

● Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin

● Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube |iTunes | Soundcloud | Mailing List